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Driving Tips
Sunday, February 26, 2006 10:43 PM Having driven for about 6 months intensively ever since getting my license in September '05, I now deem myself qualified to dish out some tips for driving effectively and impressively. 1. Never put both hands on the driving wheel. In fact, as often as you can, put NO hands on the driving wheel, and mutter to the passenger beside you 'look ma, no hands!' everytime you do that. 2. Do not slow down during turns. Turn harder to compensate for sharper turns. Accelerate if possible before and after the turn. Vroom! 3. Everytime you see a car trying to cut into your lane, hit on the accelerator and use your horn vigourously. You have to show those inconsiderate lane cutters who's boss. They can't anyhow cut into YOUR lane. 4. Train your right foot to step down hard as a conditioned reflex to seeing any long stretch of straight roads. And by long stretch of straight road, I really mean ANY stretch of straight road. Vrooom! 5. When on even roads, use gears one to five depending on your speed. When on uphill roads, use gears one or two for more power to overcome the slope. 6. And when on downhill roads, use neutral gear. 7. Before you move off, rev your engine to 3000 revolutions per minute at least twice, or until the car beside you notices you, and tells you 'let's race, punk' in sign language. Vroom vroooooom! 8. When on lane 1 on expressways, keep your high beam on to tell slow drivers in front of you to shove off to lane 2 so as not to hog your lane. If they're a little dense, flash your beam a few times to get their attention. When they see you come crashing into their faces on the rear mirrors, they'll swerve left. 9. Everytime you see a taxi, swear by the pain of death to overtake it within the next 100 metres, I mean, you're driving a 2400cc vehicle! Don't let that lousy taxi own you! Vroom vrooooooom! 10. If the passenger beside you is starting to irritate you by bossing you with directions and driving tips, remind the passenger who's in the driver's seat by flying over the next hump, making a few sharp and sudden turns, and practicing your emergency break at the next traffic light. I love driving. ( 3 comment) My Valentine's Day Eve Date with Yan Hao Tuesday, February 21, 2006 2:44 PM Miraculously, I managed to catch Corrinne May's concert at NUS after all! She decided to hold another unplugged concert on the 13th Feb for a smaller audience of about 400 people. The news was internally circulated within her website itself, and I happened to notice it about 12 hours after it was open. I called the ticket salesperson right away, and found out that here were only about 100 tickets left! In the end, I attended the concert with Yan Hao, and we sat in the front row at the corner. This led him to suggest that we snapped up the last two tickets of the whole show. Hehe. And what a show it was! Corrinne did not have much to offer; only an overflowing voice, out-of-this-world musicianship, and come interactive banter with the small audience. Well, that was more than enough to blow the minds of Yan Hao and me, and most of the audience (I believe), away. Her songs and lyrics always seem to be able to find its way into our hearts, speaking intimately to us and making it easy for many people to identify with the contents of the songs (for those who bother to look at the lyrics carefully, hehe), despite often being simple and short. As such, many of her fans (including Yan Hao) admire her for her musical talents. So do I. However, I admire her even more for her very strong Christian walk. In fact, I started becoming a 'fan' of hers mostly after I listened carefully to the song 'Journey' which she composed, as sung by Angela Zhang that fateful day on the bus around September last year (I wrote about it in a post in September '05). I guess it's obvious to everyone she's a Christian by the lyrics of many of her songs (actually she's a Catholic Christian). However, I believe comparatively fewer people actually realise how strong a Christian she really is. If you ask me, I'd say that she was subtly giving out Christian messages here and there during the concert. And many of her songs reflect the closeness of her walk with God. Well, I don't want to be misunderstood about two things. Firstly, I'm not trying to suggest that the sole reason why I like Corrinne May's songs now is because she's a Christian. I've heard some Christian singers sing before. There are good musicians and bad musicians, and the fact that you're a Christian does not cover up your bad music and make it good. I liked Journey (Angela's version though) even before I realised the actual lyrical meanings of the song. However, after I discovered what the song really was about, I liked it even more. Just like how a literature text may be asethetically nice to read at first, but only after you study it closely in context with relevant background information, do you recognise it's true beauty, and learn to appreciate it better for its brilliance. And most of her songs are like that! Thus, I like her songs even more as a Christian because they reveal (to me) the human empathy and brilliance of the Source of her inspirations. She's such an encouragement, a reminder of the blessed and joyous life that He intends for all of us. Secondly, I do not, consequently, wish to give this wrong idea that I think that the other 'secular' fans of Corrinne May are hence not as 'qualified' as me just because they do not see (nor embrace) the Christian aspect of Corrinne May's songs (or that they did not know about the second 'secret' concert on the 13th, nor have they ever tried emailing her and actually got a reply from her, twice, before, hehe). In the way the Chronicles of Narnia can and should be enjoyed as a piece of children's fiction despite its deep and very extensive Christian allegories, her songs can and should also be appreciated for being pleasant, soulful music in its own right. ... Well, I'm just another Corrinne May fan. In fact, I think I'm quite a lousy fan, because, I still prefer Angela's version of Journey, even though she does not exactly sing better than Corrinne... Have I said that before? ( 2 comment) My Entertainment Station Saturday, February 11, 2006 4:52 PM I still remember a time long long ago, when radio DJs only did what their names implied; they played songs on the radio. Yes, they'd also give us a little background information on some of the songs here and there, engage in a little one-way communcation every now and then, by talking about the weather, and some of the more respectable ones would dig up indie gems to recommend to the general public, and influence the public taste in pop, music and culture. And they played songs on the radio. These days, it seems that the job of a DJ is becoming more and more difficult. Now, they have to appear in public, and on television regularly (it's a common adage that DJs are DJs mainly because they're nice to hear, but very unpleasant to see), cut their own music albums, act in dramas, and tell stories and even teach philosophy and morals on air! I believe the pre-requisites of being a DJ is a good command of language and at least a little knowledge in certain genres of music. In other words, radio stations would hire DJs based mainly on that, because disk jockeying is all about entertaining the public with music. Hearing about DJs appearing on television, acting in dramas, or cutting their own music albums, or telling stories on air is somewhat amusing. However, hearing a clueless DJ try to preach about philosophy, purpose in life, love, and relationships irks the crap out of me. No, I'm not talking about carefully planned radio programmes that some DJs come up with to have dialogues with audiences and specialists in their corresponding fields to discuss social or moral issues in society. I don't agree with all that I hear, but embracing different viewpoints after a civil discussion on all sides, that's called informed tolerance and harmony. Nowadays, I keep hearing some DJs regularly dishing out 'nuggets of advice' on life, love and relationships, whether or not they've been asked. They could be talking about the song that was just played, and then they ease us into hearing a small banter about the background of the singer's life, and suddenly *BAM*, you are hit with an angsty one-liner about unrequited love. Embracing and following some of the philosophical advices and statements that these DJs callously and irresponsibly spout for the sake of rubbing their own egos (it's always very gratifying to dish out advice to people, isn't it? Makes you feel so wise and mature no?), when they don't really care about the people whom they're giving the advice to (I believe most people don't really care about many people they see, much less people they DON'T see), that's called being a threat to society. A DJ's opinion about life and love with reference to his or her own deprived love life in response to every sms asking for a song dedication is not needed. Probably the only opinions that are relevant from a DJ would be related to music tastes and pop culture. And even then, it takes years of work and experience before a DJ's opinions about just his or her own genre of speciality is valued and accepted by the people. Some of the DJs are really quite knowledgeable about their own craft: pop culture and such, and due recognition should be given where it is deserved. However, it does not follow that their views about every other issue is equally worth adopting. Just like how Jackie Chan's expertise in making good action movies does not equate his expertise in the skills of acting (It's a Myth). It's just big egos. Let us enjoy listening to radio for the music, and as for lessons in life, I believe many songs can speak for themselves. Just play the songs. And talk less. ( 3 comment) ORD LOH! Thursday, February 09, 2006 11:57 AM It's finally begun. The end of this necessary 2-year evil is in sight, but two weeks into my ORD leave, I'm beginning to miss camp already. What I miss most about camp is literally, the camp itself; I've stayed in that camp for almost 2 years already, and I've shifted bunk 3 times already. Yes, I've stayed in 4 different bunks in my camp. I'll just talk about what I miss most in the first bunk I stayed in, the bunk on the highest floor in 'SP' Coy. I still remember the first day I moved into Mandai Hill Camp... I was the only one posted there. Having taken much effort to get to know my fellow (JC graduate) trainees in Signal Institute, and even succeeding in clicking rather well (I think) with them, I was rewarded by being separated from them, and thrust into a platoon full of poly birds whom I had a hard time getting comfortable with. I miss the way one of my bunkmates always tries to ease you into a comfortable conversation by flexing his huge muscles (most people say he just looks hard on the outside, but is all soft and weak on the inside), and adopting a tone that seems to make you feel like he's trying to gain something out of you. I miss the way another one tries to convince you that Network Marketing (nooo, not pyramid scheme ok) is a viable and lucrative way of getting rich, by spending lots of money in that product, and telling you about the financial and business theories when you ask him about his net revenue after almost one year in the business. There's this guy who greets us every morning (when he wakes up) by nonchalently sticking his right hand into his pants. I once asked him what he was doing, and he just replied matter-of-factly 'oh, I adjusting my position mah'. Then there's this guy who's always being terrorised by another guy who wants very badly to squeeze his nipples, day in day out. He's the movie buff who thinks that Troy was a good movie (it sucked big time... right?). And then there's this 'king of porn' who's got a picture (just the face) of a certain Japanese porn star named Sally something in his handphone, who thinks that Hong Kong comics are far superior to Japanese manga. I miss many of the funny people in camp that made army life bearable, but what I really miss most are the countless nights in camp where I spent reading the bible in bed or on the stairs, and talking to Him, trying to reason out and analyse my insecurities, my problems and my worries, and ultimately psyching myself to learn to rest it all on Him. It was a most miserable time. I was lonely (back then I had some initially trouble fitting into my platoon) and depressed. And precisely because of that, it was the most wonderful time, because I had no one else to turn to, but Him. And there is much Comfort and Joy to be found from Him. If I wanted to go back to being a signaller in 'SP' Coy again, it would only be because I wanted to go back to the 'honeymoon period' of my walk, where He hadn't allowed me to go through any REAL trials with REAL consequences yet, but only taught and guided me continually through the bible and other books, to build up my faith and Godly knowledge in preparation for some of the difficulties I'm facing these days. ... Nevertheless, apart from some minor inconveniences (like being squeezed dry and exploited till my very last day by everyone by [1] being made to do duty on 2 weekends and Valentine's day in February, [2] having to go back during my last 4 days to help my understudy clear up any mess for the closing of the financial work year and [3] being made to go back to clear my SOC before I ORD to increas the unit's chances of winning the Best Unit Competition), this foretaste of freedom from national duty is awesome! ORD LOH! ( 5 comment) |
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